Making Every Second Count

WOW!!!!! I can't believe how busy we've been and how much we've gotten done already! Its been incredible and I have no doubt whatsoever that we've been strengthened by the Lord through the enabling power of the Atonement and the divine power that comes with being set apart as missionary servants of the Lord Jesus Christ and bearing his name.  We've already, in one week, finished blocking our two largest shows, mostly memorized all the music for all of our shows, learned choreography for 3 dances and it has been amazing!  I am constantly amazed by how powerful a small humble prayer has been making for me each time I have a small particular part that I'm struggling with, I pray for strength or for humility and patience to wait on the Lord's time and the help ALWAYS comes.  That cannot possibly be coincidence.

On top of all of that... I'm in NAUVOO!! I never imagined how powerful the spirit would be.  I had my guesses, but I was way off.  People talk about times when the spirit is just tangible... well here thats the norm.  When you have an extra spiritual experience everyone is on the verge of tears and completely overcome, and we've had a fair share of those already just in some of the rehearsals where we work through our really powerful numbers and the spirit comes crashing like a tidal wave washing over us and filling our hearts beyond capacity.  It is amazing and beautiful.  I love this city and love the program here and absolutely LOVE being a Missionary.

Another amazing blessing of being a missionary is having a stellar companion!  Elder Leavitt is constantly teaching me so much.  I didn't know that when I got here I would automatically have a new best friend who had me as their top priority, who would pray with and for me any time I needed, who was worthy, willing, and happy to give me a blessing when I needed it, and who is just genuine in his charity and love for people and sharing the gospel everywhere.  Every night he has this thing he does where he tells me one way in which I "lit his fire" and its just simple things, usually ones that I did without really thinking about which uplifted him and it really is an amazing confirmation that I am doing good here even if I don't notice it myself.  I couldn't have been paired with a better Elder for me to learn, work, and grow with.  The Lord, again, truly has his hand guiding this work.

Now I can't go on without sharing one mildly embarrassing story... so here goes.  On our second day here, last Saturday, we had opportunity to go on a wagon tour around Nauvoo.  The narrator for our tour was a senior missionary sister from Hawaii.  After the ride I went to thank her and overheard my companion say something along the lines of "so its mahalo?" I double checked with him to make sure I had hear correctly and asked "mahalo or mahala?" he confirmed that I heard correctly it was mahalo.  So I said to the sister "Thank you Sister Mahalo"  she looked really confused and my companion just started laughing... apparently mahalo means thank you or good-bye and he had been asking how to say it in Hawaiian when I walked up. So I called her Sister Thank-you and looked very silly.

All in all I couldn't be in a better place right now. I know this is where the Lord wants me to be and I'm loving every second of it.  One of our mottos is "Make every second count" and Elder and Sister Wortley gave each of us a medallion that we can wear to remind us.  Every second has changed me in some way for the better and I can already tell that this summer is going to go bye way too quickly.  But, I guess thats just all the more reason to make it count while it lasts.